This was originally going to be a Pit thread. I was driving along with the top down, and got stuck behind a diesel car on a winding road for several miles. The thing stank, and I ended up with a headache. Last month, someone parked their diesel pickup in front of my store on a warm day when I had the front door open. He left the engine running for a half hour while he went into the bar across the street. My store filled up with awful-smelling exhaust, and it was so noisy I couldn’t talk on the phone. In the Pit thread, I was going to explain why I think every diesel car should have the exhaust pipe in the front so the driver would have to smell the same thing the guy behind him on the road has to smell (I understand heavy diesel trucks and the torque issues–I’m talking about cars, vans, and light pickups here).
But then I realized I don’t want to just rant about diesels. I want to understand why anyone would actually buy one. After all, they smell bad, they’re noisy, diesel is 20 cents a gallon more expensive than regular unleaded (at least it is here), they’re harder to start in cold weather, and last time I checked they were more expensive than the same model with a gas engine.
So come on, diesel owners. Please explain this to me.
Well, diesel fuel used to be cheaper than gas. They are also reputed to be somewhat more durable than 4-stroke gas engines and provide better fuel economy. ie: around 20-40% more MPG.
I know a guy who has a farm. He is sort of a “gentleman farmer” I guess. Anyway, he has a gas tank and gets it filled on a regular basis. He pays way less in taxes on the fuel. He bought a diesel truck specifically so that he could use this gasoline. It is illegal to do this, however he has not gotten caught (yet).
A friend of mine specifically bought a diesel car so that he could use biodiesel. Biodiesel around here is only sold in a couple of places and is more expensive than regular diesel so he definately wasn’t doing it for cost reasons. This particular car was brand new, did not stink, and was not noisy. In fact, when I drove it, if I hadn’t been told it was diesel I would have assumed it was a regular gas engine.
I understand your point, Vetbridge. I have a diesel tank on my property, and my tractor has a diesel engine. But the key is in your last sentence: using that for the on-road vehicles is illegal.
I’ve heard a lot of people say that about Mercedes and other brands of diesel cars. Maybe it’s true when they’re brand-new, but there sure are a lot of loud, stinky diesel Mercedes out there.
I don’t know much about biodiesel, but if it really is better for the environment, that would be a great reason to own one. I don’t think you can get biodiesel in most of the country, though, can you?
The modern generation of European diesel engines ( such as the Peugeot Citroën HDI models) and are very clean and almost indistinguishable from petrol cars. The acceleration and low noise levels means that they are on par with non diesel cars. And , of course you get better fuel consumption. Forget what you have seen of older diesel engines , the modern ones are very good . You can even get a Jaguar X type diesel which is no sluggard. Perhaps, because of the low price of petrol in the US , the same sort of advances and refinements have not taken place on diesel engines there have they have in Europe.
The reason is almost certain to involve the diesel’s better fuel economy. Even at 20 - 30 cents more per gallon than petrol, you’re well ahead.
Modern diesel engines start well, even in rather cold weather (though they’ll probably need hep in extreme cold). They need not put out black smoke or smell bad - this generlly means either an old-technology engine or notably poor maintenance.
The habit that some drivers have of leaving them idling for long periods is not a good one (and has been decried by manufacturers). Some drivers do this with petrol engines, but it seems more common with diesels.
The new Euro diesels do not at all stink. They’re quite fun to drive cars, with more power on the low end, and less on the high end, but other than that, they drive very similar to petrol engines. I once test drove a Peugeot 406 diesel and petrol version back-to-back, and could find little difference between the two cars. The gas engine just had a bit more oomph at high RPMs. I would definitely consider buying one in Europe; in the US, though, with diesel prices being significantly higher than gas, I probably wouldn’t.
Newer diesel engines do not stink like their predecessors did, and diesel fuel is more expensive than regular gas, but the engine delivers much more power than a gasoline engine of a comparable size.
How much more? Of the top of my head, the VW TDI engine delivers about 40-50% more torque than the 4-cylindar turbo engine. This enabled the transmission to be beefed up substantially. (Again, off the top of my head) A TDI Passat is rated for 45 MPG. I’m lucky when I can get 28.
(Please, note - The only number I can attest to is my milage. I’ll try to get better numbers a little later.)
I’m surprised to hear that diesel is now more expensive than unleaded in the US, since it’s much cheaper here in Panama, by about 20-30 cents. Together with the better fuel economy, it may cost only about half as much to run a diesel here.
Diesels produce loads of particulates and so are dirtier than petrol engines. But they are more economical. Modern turbodiesels also have good performance, with high torque at low revs and excellent in-gear acceleration.
**Colibri ** - Diesel’s gotten significantly more expensive than gas. D’s going for anywhere from $2.99 to 3.19 a gallon. Price range for 87 octane gas is in the $2.69-2.89 range.
Turbo-diesels also perform spectacularly well at high altitude…turbo lag increases some, but sea-level power is usually obtainable to well over 10,000’MSL. You can turbocharge a gasoline engine, but diesels and turbos are a match made in heaven.
Durability is another reason. Even in desert areas (no road salt + low humidity = much less rust) a diesel engine will typically outlast the truck around it.
The Mercedes-Benz Smart Fortwo is the first car that has ever motivated me to start saving for a new car.
It has a wee diesel engine and gets about 32L/km (75 mpg,) making it almost twice as fuel-efficient as a gas-guzzling Honda Civic. The one I want costs $17,000, which ain’t too shabby.
I’ve been toying with the idea of buying a 2nd hand diesel Volvo and running biodiesel for a few years, but the suspicion that it’ll end up being a head-ache has kept me off it.
I had owned two diesel vehicles before, they’re great. They have lower maintenance, they are easy to work on, and they get many more miles to the gallon. Before I bought my last truck, the veg-oil truck, I was burning nearly 20 gallons of gasoline per week. Now, before the conversion, I have been using about 9 gallons of diesel per week. Using vegetable oil at least part of the time, I expect my economy to increase even more. Any more questions?
Yeah, I parked next to a fairly new Diesel Passat in a parking lot the other day. It definitely stank. It wasn’t as loud as the old diesels, but it was noticeably louder than a gas engine.
However…
If you’re talking about the difference between 28mpg and 45mpg, that’s pretty significant. Around here, diesel costs about 8% more than gasoline, so if you can improve your mileage by 60%, you’re coming out way ahead. I could put up with some stench and noise to cut my fuel costs by a third.
I posted some questions in your other thread a few minutes ago. Obviously, my comments don’t apply to you. I don’t know about the sound, but I would certainly have no objection to sniffing fried chicken fumes when I drive
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